Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Owl's Head 1/2/6
Laurie and I slept in late after a monster hike to Dial and Nippletop yesterday. We hit the trailhead for the Owl's Head fire tower, near Long Lake, NY, at 11:30, after about an hour and a half's drive from the Lake Placid area. It was about 28 degrees, with mostly sunny skies, and dead calm wind. By the end of the hike, the skies were overcast. We wore snowshoes all day for traction.
At the start, the trail was well packed down by many snowshoe tracks. This was just a short hike of 6.2 miles, with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain. Nothing too serious after the 4800' of climbing we did the day before!
The trail went up moderately for a few hundred feet and then settled into a rolling up and down walk for the first mile or so. We came to a junction with a trail that was used by snowmobilers, and briefly shared the trail with their tracks. Once back on the hiking trail, the grade continued up in fits and starts. After another mile or so, we were finally going up steadily.
We saw or found evidence of several other animals. Chickadees, crows, and grouses were seen or heard. Deer and rabbit tracks were everywhere. A bear made its presence known by scratching an old telephone pole, and leaving a little fur behind. Dog or coyote prints were seen from time to time. But the most fearsome animal we found evidence for was not the bear, but the Posthole-O-Sauruses! P.O.S.es, as I will refer to them henceforth, took over the trail after the snowshoers apparently turned back at around 2.5 miles. The trail went up and over a saddle and back down, and this must have discouraged the snowshoers. In any case, now we were subject to the holes of the P.O.S.ers. They were 12" deep, and several days old, having frozen in quite nicely. I had MSRs on and it was tough going, but Laurie's 30" Redfeathers were even tougher! We alternated between following the P.O.S. trail and breaking our own trail. Further complicating the process, the trail went up a stream bed, that was sometimes wet, sometimes bare, sometimes covered with a thin layer of ice, and sometimes walkable in snowshoes. Walking beside the stream bed was difficult as we would have to side hill quite a bit.
We made slow progress thru this section. We passed the remains of the observer's cabin, just a few cement pillars now. After a few hundred more yards, the trail went up steeply, so much so, that we had to climb with hands and feet. The P.O.S.es had made some butt slide trails here that were frozen sheets of ice! After a little while the trail flattened out and we finally saw the short tower that stood on top of Owl's Head. It was about 2 hours going up. The trees had been felled looking South and East, and we could see Blue Mountain standing majestically in front of us, wreathed in a cloud.
http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/blue.jpg
Climbing the tower, we were pleased that the cab was open, but unfortunately, there were no windows, so the wind blew in on us as we gazed out in all directions. A few of the southern high peaks could be seen off in the distance. Several lakes dotted the landscape around us.
We walked back down the icy stairs, and had lunch at the base of the tower. This climb completed all 23 firetowers in the ADK Park for Laurie and me, in about 9 months time. We walked back down the trail in about an hour and a half, and drove down to Albany for a fitting celebration at Malt River Brewing.
I know I've said this before, but I highly recommend climbing the fire tower mountains. You get a different perspective on the ADK Park by spreading out your hikes over a larger area. There's still plenty of challenge too. Check them out at http://www.adk.org , and select the Glens Falls Chapter for more information.
Laurie and I slept in late after a monster hike to Dial and Nippletop yesterday. We hit the trailhead for the Owl's Head fire tower, near Long Lake, NY, at 11:30, after about an hour and a half's drive from the Lake Placid area. It was about 28 degrees, with mostly sunny skies, and dead calm wind. By the end of the hike, the skies were overcast. We wore snowshoes all day for traction.
At the start, the trail was well packed down by many snowshoe tracks. This was just a short hike of 6.2 miles, with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain. Nothing too serious after the 4800' of climbing we did the day before!
The trail went up moderately for a few hundred feet and then settled into a rolling up and down walk for the first mile or so. We came to a junction with a trail that was used by snowmobilers, and briefly shared the trail with their tracks. Once back on the hiking trail, the grade continued up in fits and starts. After another mile or so, we were finally going up steadily.
We saw or found evidence of several other animals. Chickadees, crows, and grouses were seen or heard. Deer and rabbit tracks were everywhere. A bear made its presence known by scratching an old telephone pole, and leaving a little fur behind. Dog or coyote prints were seen from time to time. But the most fearsome animal we found evidence for was not the bear, but the Posthole-O-Sauruses!
P.O.S.es, as I will refer to them henceforth, took over the trail after the snowshoers apparently turned back at around 2.5 miles. The trail went up and over a saddle and back down, and this must have discouraged the snowshoers. In any case, now we were subject to the holes of the P.O.S.ers. They were 12" deep, and several days old, having frozen in quite nicely. I had MSRs on and it was tough going, but Laurie's 30" Redfeathers were even tougher! We alternated between following the P.O.S. trail and breaking our own trail. Further complicating the process, the trail went up a stream bed, that was sometimes wet, sometimes bare, sometimes covered with a thin layer of ice, and sometimes walkable in snowshoes. Walking beside the stream bed was difficult as we would have to side hill quite a bit.We made slow progress thru this section. We passed the remains of the observer's cabin, just a few cement pillars now. After a few hundred more yards, the trail went up steeply, so much so, that we had to climb with hands and feet. The P.O.S.es had made some butt slide trails here that were frozen sheets of ice!
After a little while the trail flattened out and we finally saw the short tower that stood on top of Owl's Head. It was about 2 hours going up. The trees had been felled looking South and East, and we could see Blue Mountain standing majestically in front of us, wreathed in a cloud. http://home.hvc.rr.com/trankin/blue.jpg
Climbing the tower, we were pleased that the cab was open, but unfortunately, there were no windows, so the wind blew in on us as we gazed out in all directions. A few of the southern high peaks could be seen off in the distance. Several lakes dotted the landscape around us.
We walked back down the icy stairs, and had lunch at the base of the tower. This climb completed all 23 firetowers in the ADK Park for Laurie and me, in about 9 months time. We walked back down the trail in about an hour and a half, and drove down to Albany for a fitting celebration at Malt River Brewing.
I know I've said this before, but I highly recommend climbing the fire tower mountains. You get a different perspective on the ADK Park by spreading out your hikes over a larger area. There's still plenty of challenge too. Check them out at http://www.adk.org , and select the Glens Falls Chapter for more information.
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